Obama Wants To Bankrupt The Coal Industry

Want to pay more for electricity? Vote Obama:

Let me sort of describe my overall policy.

What I’ve said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else’s out there.

I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted. [...]

That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and other alternative energy approaches.

The only thing I’ve said with respect to coal, I haven’t been some coal booster. What I have said is that for us to take coal off the table as a ideological matter as opposed to saying if technology allows us to use coal in a clean way, we should pursue it.

Here's the audio:


If you vote for Obama, remember him every time you pay your skyrocketing energy bills... if you have any money left to pay them with after THE ONE redistributes your income.

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Hey... What The Hell?

Paris Hilton's Energy Plan: Hot?

The Paris Plan, verbatim:

"Barack wants to focus on new technologies to cut foreign-oil dependency, and McCain wants offshore drilling. Well, why don't we do a hybrid of both candidates' ideas?

"We can do limited offshore drilling with strict environmental oversight, while creating tax incentives to get Detroit making hybrid and electric cars.

"That way, the offshore drilling carries us until the new technologies kick in, which will then create new jobs and energy independence. Energy crisis solved."

Then she says she is "like totally ready to lead."

"Never thought I'd say this," Connecticut energy consultant Peter Beutel told the Boston Herald, "but Paris Hilton's plan is sound."

And Rex Buchanan, an energy spokesman for the Kansas Geological Survey: "Is there something to what she says? Shoot, yes!

"Now I'm just speaking for myself and not the geological survey," he cautioned. "But we are going to need almost anything you can think of - all energy sources, alternatives and technologies - to get us through. What Paris doesn't talk about is that the electricity to power those hybrid and electric cars is going to have to come from somewhere, too.

"See what you've done? You've got me analyzing Paris Hilton's thought process."

Wayne Fields, an expert on political rhetoric at Washington University in St. Louis, said the Paris Plan probably does not drift far from the plans of McCain and Obama, or at least what either president would have to do.

"If she can articulate it, it can't be rocket science," Fields said. "But the candidates don't come out and sum it up this way, because their messages are, one, built around sound bites; two, built around oversimplification; three; built around interest groups."

Given the two abysmal major candidates, I say why not Paris? We already know about her dirty laundry. Jeebus... our leadership pool is this shallow? I weep for our future.

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Environuts, Mavericks, & Bears... OH MY!

Offshore Oil Drilling Opponents On Defensive

The environmental movement, only recently poised for major advances on global warming and other issues, has suddenly found itself on the defensive as high gasoline prices shift the political climate nationwide and trigger defections by longtime supporters.

Opposition to offshore drilling -- once ironclad in places like California and Florida -- has begun to soften. Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida on Tuesday eased his opposition to new energy exploration off the coast.

"Floridians are suffering, and when you're paying over $4 a gallon for gas, you have to wonder whether there might be additional resources that we might be able to utilize to bring that price down," said Crist, a Republican.

At the same time, pressure to drill is mounting.

President Bush today is expected to call on Congress to lift the ban on new offshore drilling, and a House committee will consider a proposal to relax the moratorium.

Ten to one says that Ryan - the granola boy in the pic above - does not and never will own a car.

Never one to miss a chance to switch sides: John McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, opposed new offshore drilling in his 2000 presidential campaign. He said Tuesday that he now supported lifting the long-standing ban. Watch out polar bears, you're in the Maverick's sights! Of course, maybe he just wants a stuffed toy named after him like his Presidential fantasy lover, Teddy Roosevelt.

In related news: In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President’s home energy use surged more than 10%, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

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